Butyl rubber is commonly synthesized by slurry copolymerization of isobutylene and a minor amount of isoprene (1˜3%) in chloromethane medium, initiated by Friedel—Crafts acid (such as AlCl3). Butyl rubber polymers are insoluble in chloromethane and precipitate as particles from the solution to form the slurry system. The polymerization is carried out at the temperature about −100° C. The reaction rate is extremely rapid, resulting in an instantaneous completion of the reaction. High molecular weight butyl rubber products for applications as rubber can only be obtained at low polymerization temperature (see US Pat. No. 2,356,128 and Ullmanns Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Vol. A23, 1993, Page 288-295). It is very important to intensify heat transfer, mass transfer and micro-mixing in butyl rubber polymerization since they play an important role in the process. However, butyl rubber is commonly synthesized by a conventional stirred polymerization reaction, which features poor micro-mixing and long residence time of the substances (30-60 min), unmatched to the polymerization rate of butyl rubber. In addition, the conventional process also features large equipment volume, large floor area and high cost.
The recently-developed high gravity technology has changed conventional mass transfer means. The core of the technology is that mass transfer of liquid-liquid, liquid-solid, gas-liquid is carried out in a high gravity reactor, where mass transfer and micro-mixing can be intensified tremendously. The rate of mass transfer, the mass transfer coefficient of micro-mixing and the mixing rate in high gravity environment are therefore 1˜3 orders of magnitude larger than those in a conventional static state (gravity environment). High gravity devices are disclosed in China Patents, Appl. Nos. 91109255.2, 91111028.3, 200520100685.3, 01268009.5, 02114174.6, 200510032296.6, which comprise high gravity rotating equipment such as rotating packed bed, zigzag channels, helix channels, rotating disks. A rotor/stator high gravity rotating device is also disclosed in China Pat. No. ZL 200410042631. 6. The inventors of this invention have made significant contributions to high gravity technology and extended its applications from separation and desorption to chemical reaction processes. For instance, a series of patents describe the preparation of nanoparrticles by a precipitation reaction in a high gravity rotating packed bed reactor, such as “Synthesis method of ultrafine particles” (CN. Pat. No. ZL 95105344.2) and “Synthesis method of ultrafine calcium carbonate” (CN. Pat. No. ZL 95105343.4). The patent of “Preparation method of overbased calcium sulphonate lubricant detergent additives” (CN. Pat. No. ZL 200410037885.9) discloses the applications of high gravity technology to neutralization reaction, carbonation and phase inversion processes, and calcium sulfonate detergent additives with high quality are obtained. The above said applications of high gravity technology are all for inorganic reactions, and there are no reports on the applications of high gravity technology to complex macromolecule polymerization, which comprises the chain initiation, chain propagation and chain termination.